The Day We Met
by SakuraKiss444
Summary: It was all going be over. All of my pain, all of my suffering. But then something happened. Something that would change my life forever. You. AU, KibaHina
1. My Wonderful, Perfect Plan

**I don't own Naruto!**

**The Day We Met**

**Chapter 1: My Wonderful, Perfect Plan  
**

_**So, I woke up from a **_**wonderful**_** after-Thanksgiving nap and decided to write a super depressing/emotionly empowering KibaHina fic about how Hinata's been bullied in her high school. This is also a semi-tribute to my friend (who, for the sake of her privacy, I will call A) who was bullied to the point where she wanted to commit suicide. She didn't, and the fact that she met somebody had almost nothing to do with it, but I thought that this was an interesting idea, and it's been swimming around in the back of my mind for a while. *WARNING* This fic contains OOC Sakura, Naruto and Sai and little bit of OOC Sasuke, Ino, and Temari. So, thanks for reading and please review! I take any and all suggestions, however, it might take a while for me to come upon enough inspiration to get it written. :)**_

* * *

Dear friend,

It was _supposed_ to be simple. My plan, that is. My ever-so-perfect plan. In fact, some of the people at school would've been amazed to think that it was created from my, "completely fucking useless" brain. Ha! Well take **_THAT _**Sakura Haruno. But, the point is, this plan was perfect. Until, of course, something had to go wrong.

I'll illustrate my plan for you since you probably don't know what it was.

It was simple. Easy. Flawless.

Here it is. Kill all of them, then myself. That was it. I was such an outcast, nobody would realize it was me who had poisoned them. Then, once it was all said and done, I'd poison myself. See, simple!

Now that you know about my plan, I suppose you want my reasoning as to why I wished to put it through. Well, have you ever heard of bullying? Yeah, that thing where you act like it's important and "try" to stop it, but really you're just glad it's not you. But it's real, people. It happens. And it's happened to me to the point of mass murder. That's how bad it can get.

But for a while, everything was great in my life. I was dating this super popular hottie named Naruto Uzumaki, I was part of the popular crowd and my father actually thought I was good for something other than sucking up his money and taking up space. Then it all turned to hell.

It started when Naruto broke up with me. Then, rumors started to surface. Bad rumors. Rumors that only made things worse. Rumors that I had done sexual things to try and get Naruto back, which was wrong and completely stupid. I would never, _ever_, do that kind of thing just for some stupid boy. Even if I did care about him more than anything in the world. Then, my father started to hate me. He was convinced my little sister Hanabi was 150% better than me. Well, screw you dad. You were on the list, too. And even after my father started to hate me, the popular crowd at school started giving me flack too. Everything I did seemed to be wrong in their oh-so-perfect eyes.

But none of it mattered anymore. It was going to end.

But then, something happened.

The day I was going to end all my pain, something happened to me that changed everything. It changed my view of life forever.

_You._

**_Chapter 1! I don't know why I thought of this, but, ya know, whatever. Pleasr R&R! -Chiharu Kamida_**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own Naruto! **

**The Day We Met **

**Chapter 2: What You Changed**

**Thanks for reviewing chap. 1 and please R&R for this one too! ^_^**

* * *

Well, I suppose after hearing about my plan, my motivation and how You changed it, I'll suppose you're going to want to know how I met You, and who the hell You is because if you're reading this, you're probably thinking, "Me? What the hell?"

Well in truth, you're dead wrong. By You, I am referring to my best friend. Kiba Inuzuka.

What, you want the story of how we me and everything after it that lead me to writing the story you're reading today? Well fine. I'll illustrate it for you. However, keep in mind I'm not a very good writer, (I meaning Hinata Hyuuga, social outcast who has never been told her writing was good by anyone. Ever.) so, I'm not one for telling good stories.

But in any case, here's the story of the day we met and everything after that.

* * *

**•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•**

* * *

It was the first day of Junior year. My cousin Neji, who had protected me from as much of the bullying as he could, had graduated at the end of the previous year and I was terrified of what was waiting for me. I was so terrified, I threw up in my neighbor's bushes on the way to the bus stop and then just decided to walk. It was only a mile or so to school and I had roughly 50 minutes to get there.

Before I left, I smuggled three containers of poison into my backpack in case my first day sucked as much as I knew it would. But, I'd already made my decision, so it didn't matter if this morning sucked or not. It would just be for all the other times then. It'd take a miracle to make me change my mind.

On my way to school, nothing happened. I waved to my stupid neighbors and everyone else that you normally wave to when you see them somewhere. A "hello" here, a "good morning" there. You know. I thought about the poison in my backpack, keeping my eyes on the cracks in the sidewalk.

"Yeah, I'll see ya later mom, 'tebayo!" I froze. It was his voice. Naruto's. God, I did NOT want to have to deal with him until lunch today.

"Oh! Hey Hinata-san! Nice day, 'tebayo!" I looked up and the blonde teen.  
"You haven't said th-three words to me in the past year. Wh-why now?" I said, covering my stutter as much as I could.  
"Uh, I don't know," he said, repositioning his backpack on his shoulder, "just thought I should say something, 'tebayo."  
"Oh," I said quietly, "that's nice of you." I paused, mentally thinking over what to say.  
"How's Sakura-san?" I decided on.  
"Okay I guess," Naruto replied, "she broke up with me in July so we haven't talked too much, 'tebayo."  
"That's n-not good."  
"It's okay," he said with a smile.  
"Oh! We're here. I gotta go! Nice talkin' to ya, Hinata-san!" I looked at the blonde as he raced forward and crashed into his friends. I turned my eyes to the ground and kept them glued to the pavement and then the tile.

My locker was right next to a scrawny kid who got picked on even more than I did, so it was nice to talk to him sometimes. Not really, considering how he didn't go to school very much these days. He'd had mental issues and was bullied because of it and I heard he'd been admitted into an Institution in early August. He was the only kid in school who was half-way nice to me.

I pulled some books out of my locker an hoped and prayed Sakura Haruno or anyone in her crowd was in my Double-Advanced math, science or history classes. I knew for a fact that none of them would be my Computer Tech. class and the only who might be in Art would be Sai Uchiha, and the only reason he's in that group in the first place is because Ino Yamanaka grabbed onto him and pulled him in head-first at the beginning of last year. There'd be one or two in my language arts and English classes for sure. I was going to hate my 3rd and 5th hours.

"Oh look. It's Hina," A voice behind me called, "how was your summer?" I didn't even bother to turn around to see who it was. I knew.  
"What d-do you want S-Sakura-san?" I asked with a shaky voice.  
"Why would you assume I want something from you?" She retorted.  
"We're just looking around for any fresh meat to recruit this year," Ino added.  
"Mmhmm!" Tenten finished.  
"I… I have to go to math..." I said, turning around.  
"Oh? Do you have Kurenai?"  
"… Yeah." I whispered, clutching my math book tightly.  
"I'll see you there!" Tenten said with a smirk. I felt tears burning the back of my eyelids, but I just lowered my head slightly and started walking away.

I couldn't believe how mean Tenten had gotten. She had been recruited into Sakura's group after Neji revealed that he was going to go to college out-of-state. He and Tenten had dated for about a year after she moved into the neighborhood. She had said it was after a breakup or something. But she was probably the nicest person I'd ever met.

I turned the corner, I smashed into someone.  
"I-I'm sorry..." I said, hurriedly grabbing up all my stuff and starting to move away. But before I could start walking to class again, a hand was placed on my shoulder.  
"Hey are you okay?" A voice I didn't recognize asked, "I bumped into you so hard I knocked you over!"  
"I-I'm fine," I said, not even caring enough to see who this momentarily-kind person was.  
"Hey, I just moved here so I know nobody, do you know where Kurenai is?"  
"I-I'm headed th-there now... I c-could show you if you want."  
"Really? Thanks!" This time, I looked to see who I was talking to. Warm, friendly, beautiful brown eyes met my creepy pale white ones. (my whole family has a missing gene or something)

I blushed unknowingly, staring at the spiky brown hair and warm smile. The hand that was perched on my shoulder was warming up the bare skin where the strap of my tanktop wasn't. He had pointy eye teeth, like a dog or a wolf, and there were two bright crimson triangles the exact same size on his cheeks. All I could think of was some sort of gang or something. He wore a black hoodie that zipped up and currently wasn't zipped, revealing his Three Days Grace: Transit of Venus concert t-shirt. His jeans were ripped and faded and had something like oil stains on them. He probably worked on cars or something. His shoes were worn out old converse. He looked odd compared to me. My clothes cost easily fifty times more than his did.

"I'm Kiba Inuzuka." He told me, holding out a hand.  
"H-Hinata H-Hyu-Hyuuga," I stuttered out, reaching for his hand and getting trapped in a huge hug.  
"Y-you're hurt-hurting me Inu-Inuzuka-s-san…" He put me down (as he had lifted me off the ground in his hug) and said,  
"S-sorry! That's how we say hello where I come from!" I smiled and looked at the ground.  
"I-it's okay. K-Kure-Kurenai is th-this way..." I said, pointing towards a door. Kiba smiled.  
"If we can choose our seats, wanna sit together?" He asked.  
"Uh, s-sure… I-I guess…" I said, walking to the door and pulling down on the handle, spotting Tenten in the very front, seven or eight people crowded around her.

"Oh! Hey Hina-cha~n! This your new boy-toy? He looks a little like Naruto, doesn't he?" The tiny amount of happiness I'd received from Kiba telling me I could sit by him withered away. But wasn't as though I expected it to stay. Life's a bitch to me. That's just how it is.

"Hey!" I heard Kiba shout, "Don't be mean to her! She probably hasn't done anything to you, has she?" I froze up. He was… standing up for me?  
"W-well-" Tenten stuttered. I looked up from my textbook. There were still five minutes until the bell rang. Kiba had his hands on Tenten's desk and he was about to say something else.  
"Exactly! You're probably just going along with what somebody else has told you to do!" Tenten's face twisted in anger and confusion. She looked angrily at Kiba who put on a brave expression and said,  
"I bet that if you weren't a part of what ever group is making fun of Hinata-chan, you'd be her friend!"  
"You need to shut up," Tenten said through ground teeth. Three minutes… "and shut up NOW. You don't think I remember you? You're hair's darker and you've got stupid tattoos now, but I remember you, Kiba!"  
"I remember you too, Tennie-chan," Kiba said with an angry sort of growl, "I just had no idea you had moved here. And go ahead and ruin my life! I'd like to see you try! AND I'm going to be Hinata's friend! We're going to be great friends and she's going to be confident!" Tenten laughed.  
"That's gold!" She said when she caught her breath, "That girl hasn't been confident since freshman year and she's a JUNIOR! I'd like to see YOU try to make her confident! Ha!" She started laughing again and the bell rang. Kiba came and sat down right next to me and Tenten quickly stopped laughing.

"Good morning class," a woman with dark brown hair and bright red eyes said, standing at the board, "and welcome to your first class of Junior year. My name is Kurenai Yuhi, but you may call me Mrs. Kurenai.

"I am married to another teacher in this school and we have a two year-old daughter named Maki. I have been teaching for twelve years and teaching this particular class for seven of those years." A kid raised his hand.  
"Yes?"  
"Are we gonna have homework? My older brother says we have homework in this class literally every day."  
"As much as I'd like to say no," Mrs. Kurenai replied, "I have to say that I want to get through the first two chapters in your textbook by the beginning of next week. So yes, you will have homework."  
"What'll it be?" The kid replied.  
"I'm giving you a packet that covers the first two chapters in your book. I'd like it finished by next Monday." She slapped a five-page on the kids desk and then a bunch more.  
"Would you be kind enough to pass those out Mr...?"  
"Hashimoto. Satoru Hashimoto."  
"Satoru-san," Mrs. Kurenai said with a small smile, "would you please pass one of these out to everyone?" The boy stood up and began setting a packet of every desk that had someone sitting at it.

"Wh-why were you y-yelling at Tenten-san?"  
"You don't know why she moved?" He replied bitterly, "We had the worst breakup every. Stupid whore. I was hoping she hadn't moved here. But! That's okay. We are going to make her pay."  
"I-I uh… I don't h-have a problem wi-with Tenten-san… It's her friend Sakura Haruno I-I don't like…"  
"They hang out? Same group of people?" I nodded, "Then they will all go down for bullying you. Okay?" I nodded again, giving him a small smile. He might have had a second reason, but he was helping me! I had a… friend. (It took me a long time to get used to saying that.)

After the bell rang, Kiba and I walked to our lockers, which weren't actually very far from each other and then to our second hours.

* * *

I had to use the bathroom about halfway through class and had the misfortune of bumping into Sakura in the hallway.  
"Tenten said something very interesting happened in your math class. Care to elaborate, bitch?"  
"I-I don't re-really know what ha-happened. Ki-Kiba-kun yelled a-at Tenten-san, n-not me."  
"Who's Kiba?"  
"H-he's new. We're… uh, we're fri-friends." I said before rushing into the bathroom. I heard the door open and someone lean up against the wall.

"So, Hina-bitch has a friend now?"  
"I… I guess. Ki-Kiba wants to… to get b-back at Tenten-san… I d-don't know wh-why though," I replied, quickly using the bathroom and exiting the stall, washing my hands. I could see Sakura in the mirror. Her face was unsettled. She probably knew that Kiba was serious about putting her whole group in their place and didn't know what to do or say for the first time in her life.

When she finally spoke, she didn't sound confident.  
"Oh are you?"  
"I… I don't know. I g-guess I'll g-go along wi-with it…" I said, walking back to class.  
"I'll see you at lunch, Hina-bitch! I look forward to meeting your new boy-toy~!" I put my head down and walked back into history.

My next hour, science, was another class with Kiba. He sat right next to where I had chosen to sit in the back and smiled.  
"How was second hour?" He asked.  
"I-I had a b-bit of a r-run-in with S-Sakura-san… th-that didn't t-turn out we-well…"  
"What happened?"  
"Sh-she asked a-about you, a-and about Tenten-san and g-got a… a l-little pi-pissed." Kiba shrugged.  
"Don't worry about it!" he said with another smile, "Sakura and her group are going down!"  
"Y-you only w-want to get… get back at T-Tenten-san…" I said, inspecting the quality of my $100 sandals.  
"I do want to get back at Tenten, but there's something special about you, something I like. I want to be your friend, and you aren't going to stop me!" I smiled and looked at him, a couple pieces of my long black hair falling into my face.  
"M-maybe its fate th-that we m-met, Inuzuka-san… y-you've cer-certainly changed m-my outlook on th-things…"  
"Ever heard of the red thread?" Kiba said with a laugh, holding up his pinky. I held up mine and he tapped the tip with his pinky. I smiled lightly and looked up as our teacher, Mr. Sarutobi, began talking about our first assignment.

After class, Kiba and I walked to Conputer Tech, another class we shared. We sat next to each other and our teacher, Mr. Hatake, said,  
"Oh, Hinata-san! It's nice to see you! I was hoping you'd take my class this year! And who's this young man?"  
"His name's Kiba Inuzuka. He just moved here. He's been really nice to me and is actually helping with the bullying!" I said happily, and hint that I had a stutter now completely gone. Mr. Kakashi Hatake was the only person in the building who I'd known for a while and was comfortable really being around.  
"Oh is he? What a nice young man!"  
"Yeah," I said, turning back around and logging onto a computer, motioning for Kiba to do the same.

After fourth hour, which was Art, I walked to lunch and bumped into Kiba, who had the same lunch I did, thank god. We marched through the hot-lunch line and then to a table, as far away from where Sakura's group had already started sitting. Kiba talked for twenty of our thirty minutes straight. I didn't really speak until Shikamaru and his girlfriend Temari sat down with us.

"Shika! Man, it's been FOREVER!" Kiba said, bumping fists with Shikamaru, "How've you been?" I shrank back into my seat after a half-second of eye contact with Temari.  
"Pretty good," Shikamaru answered, "I've got a girlfriend now, so that's pretty cool."  
"Pretty cool? That's BITCHING!" Kiba replied, "I just moved here, but I've already got a friend-girl." He smiled at me and so did Shikamaru. I ate some more chicken nuggets, wishing I could disappear.  
"You probably know Tenten's twin brother Shikamaru," Kiba said. I nodded.  
"Yeah. I-I know T-Temari-san too." I said, drinking some of my Dr. Pepper and avoiding eye contact with anyone but Kiba.  
"Well, since I …dated… Tenten, I got to be pretty good buds with Shikamaru, and it's pretty awesome I moved here, now! And another plus is I met you!" He reached across the table and ruffled my hair. I smiled lightly.

"So," Kiba started, "you better tell Sakura and everyone else to watch out for me and Hinata, because I'm going to take away one of their bullying targets!"  
"She's pretty much our ONLY bullying target," Temari said after her time in silence, "I don't know why, but Sakura hates her with a passion from hell and since we all have to follow what she says, so do we." She finished her minuscule lunch and threw the garbage in the trash, kissing Shikamaru and walking back to the lunch table Sakura's group was currently inhabiting. I shrunk down as far as I possibly could in my seat. Shikamaru looked at Temari and said,  
"Having a girlfriend is such a drag," he stood up, "I've gotta go deal with her. Later, man."  
"Later!" Kiba said, stuffing some sandwich in his mouth and saying, "Hey Hinata, aren't you going to eat?"  
"I f-feel like I'm g-gonna th-throw up…"  
"What? Why?"  
"I'm scared of what Sakura's gonna do!" I said, sitting up and feeling my stutter slip away, "Whatever it is, it's going to be horrible and now you're involved! The only reason I don't wan to be around you is because I DON'T WANT YOU TO GET HURT!" I immediately calmed myself down and began to eat something.  
"Hinata," Kiba said, "it's fine! Nothing is going to affect me and, as long as I'm around, you don't have to worry about something happening to you! So really," he put his hand on my shoulder again, "don't worry about it."

And for the rest of the day, the only thing I thought about was the expression on his face. I didn't think about the poison until I was a Kiba's house later in the day and a container fell out of my backpack.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own Naruto **

**The Day We Met **

**Chapter 3 **

**_Thanks for the long wait!_**

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

Once again, the content of my last letter was left off on a bit of a cliffhanger. I apologize. Let me go back a few hours and explain myself.

**-:-:-**

I excused myself from fifth hour and called my dad, telling him I was going to a friend's house after school for a while. He told me that I was to come home before midnight and not to do anything that would get me drunk, high, beaten up, or pregnant. The one good thing about having a father who couldn't give two shits about me is that I'm allowed to do pretty much whatever I want.

"I can come and hang out," I told Kiba when I got back to our table at the back of the class.

**-:-:-**

Sixth hour, the fates decided, was to be my personal hell. I was the second student in the classroom, so I watched the people filing in.

Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, Sai, Tenten, Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara all walked into class in a big group and sat down fairly close to each other in the back of the room. After browsing the aisles to find their seats, I noticed Temari sat next to me and Sai sat two seats back, and they were both pretty nice, at least Temari was since she'd proved it during lunch, so I didn't have to worry all that much.

But still. Sakura, Ino, and Tenten. The guys weren't going to be all that bad, neither would Temari, but those three girls; they were going to make my life hell.

The teacher came in an began talking in English. I understood most of what he was saying since my father had begun teaching Neji, my sister, and I the language since we were five.

"Can anyone tell me what I just said?" He asked in Japanese. I slowly raised my hand when it looked like no one else would.

"Yes, Miss…?"

"Hyuuga. Hyuuga Hinata, sir." I said quietly. The teacher nodded and I began talking. "You said your name is Sakutoru Kizami, you were born in Nara Prefecture, but grew up in North Carolina in the states. You graduated from Princeton University with your teaching degree, but wanted to teach in Japan, so you did. You're fluent in English, Japanese, and French, you're 31 years old, you have a wife named Yumiko and a four year-old daughter named Tsuki. You said your favorite color, but I don't know English colors, and you look forward to being our English instructor this year." I opened up my book again and settled back down in my chair. Mr. Kizami laughed.

"Well, you really don't need to be in this class, now do you?"

"It's a required course Sensei," I said quietly. "And there's still much I need to learn." I could feel three pairs of eyes boring into my skull; one pair green, one pair brown, one pair blue.

Once the bell rang, I bolted, leaving the room before anyone had a chance to stand up. I went to my locker, fumbling the combination the first two times because my hands were shaking so much. Someone tapped my shoulder. Thinking it was Kiba, I said,

"Gimme just a sec." I put the rest of my books and my homework in my backpack, zipping it up and closing my locker. I turned around. Sakura, Ino, and Tenten stood behind me. Temari was a little farther back, a sad, regretful look on her face.

"You ran out before we could talk." Sakura said, grabbing up my shirt. "You sure do love English, there, don't you? Didn't fumble once, did you? We'd better change that, don't you think?" She looked at Ino and Tenten, who both nodded. Temari simply blinked.

"Leave her be, Haruno." A familiar voice said, its body walking up between the two of us.

"Oh, it it isn't Hina's new boy-t—" Sakura was grabbed up by the shirt. Kiba's forehead was so close it nearly touched hers.

"Listen to me, and listen well. I can take whatever she you have to throw at me, I can. But she can't. I might be trying to get back at Tenten, but when you relentlessly make fun of someone I'm starting to consider my friend, then it gets personal. So drop the shit and leave her alone, or we're going to have some issues." He dropped Sakura's shirt. "Let's go, Hinata." The two of us began walking away. I snuck a peek back at the group. Sakura looked like someone had slapped her, kicked her in the shins, and then spat on a puppy. I smiled to myself. After everything she'd done to me, I couldn't help but smile. I didn't want her to get hurt, of course, but it was nice to see her speechless for once.

**-:-:-**

Kiba's car was a black 2003 Ford pickup truck. The air conditioner barely worked, and the only window that rolled down was his. The radio was small, barely operable, and the volume didn't go up, only down, so you could barely hear it.

"It's a piece of shit," he said, "but it works." I smiled.

"Thanks… for sticking up to Sakura for me…" I said quietly. Kiba ruffled my hair.

"No problem, Hinata. You're my friend. I'm not going to let you get bullied like that." I smiled again.

**-:-:-**

When I climbed out of Kiba's car, I was literally tackled to the ground by a large white dog who began to lick my face.

"Akamaru!" Kiba said, yanking the dog back by his collar. "Leave Hinata alone!" The dog was huge. It stood as tall as Kiba's waist. He was white and had brown ears.

"God, sorry about that," Kiba said, helping me off the pavement. "We don't get many new visitors so he goes a little crazy when we do." I smiled and brushed off my clothes, pulling my bracelets a bit farther down towards my wrist.

"It's fine," I replied.

Kiba's house was much smaller and a lot less fancier than mine, but seemed a lot more like a home. Kiba told me he lived with his mother Tsume and his older sister Hana, who spent most of her time at the college she went to. I didn't want to ask about his father. If his situation with his father was anything like my situation with my mother, it was best to keep quiet. I didn't like being asked about my mom. He probably was the same way.

"When I was 13," Kiba said as he turned the lock to the front door and we began walking inside to his room, "my dad ran off with this whore he met at a bar. I haven't seen him since, but he sends me a birthday card with a thousand bucks in CASH to me every year on my birthday. My mom puts it into my college fund, of course, but it's still pretty sweet to open up a cheesy birthday card and find a ton of money. Although, a thousand bucks probably isn't all that much to you." He said with a sly grin.

"Well, a th-thousand bucks is more than my allowance. That's only $400. But my father loves my sister more and she gets $600."

"A MONTH?!"

"It all goes into college. Sometimes, if I need to buy things, I'll take some out, but mostly it all goes into college." Kiba laughed as he turned the handle to his room. It was a_pigsty_.

"Uh… gimme a minute." He said, forcing me to sit out in the hallway. I heard lots of swearing and moving of things in the room.

"Who the hell're you?" A woman's voice asked me. I looked up from my seat on the carpeted floor of the hallway a woman with bushy brown hair and the same triangle tattoos as Kiba was staring down at me with angry brown eyes.

"I'm… uh… Hinata. H-Hinata Hyuuga."

"What're you doing in my house?"

"I'm d-doing homework with Kiba."

"Well where is he?"

"Cl-cleaning his room? I-I think." The woman I assumed to be Kiba's mother Tsume knocked twice on the door and kicked it open.

"MOM! WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"You've got a pretty girl sitting here in the hallway and you're completely ignoring her! That is _not_ what a gentleman does!"

"Yeah, yeah, just leave me alone! I'm making sure she doesn't DIE when she steps in here! Take her downstairs and give her something to eat if you don't want her in the hall!" Tsume walked into the room, I heard an "OOF" and she came out of the room.

"Are you hungry?" Mrs. Inuzuka asked.

"A little, I-I guess…" She smiled at me.

"Then c'mon downstairs, and I'll get you something to eat. It might not be rich people food, but that's all we've got. I can order a pizza if you'd like."

"GET PIZZA!" Kiba screamed from his bedroom. Mrs. Inuzuka sighed.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT ON IT?"

"WHATEVER HINATA WANTS, I'LL EAT!"

"What would you like on your pizza, hon?"

"Just pepperoni, please." I said quietly.

_They really make you seem like part of the family, don't they? _I thought.

Mrs. Inuzuka smiled.

"You can call me Tsume, by the way," she said, picking up the phone and punching some numbers into it. She ordered some pizza and when she put the phone away she said, "You can stay for dinner if you want. We'll probably just have pasta or leftover Chinese."

"I-is that okay? My dad said to be home by midnight and n-not to get drunk, stoned, beat up, or pregnant."

"Your father's that lenient?"

"He doesn't really consider me a worthy child…" I said quietly.

"Well, you're a worthy child here!" Tsume said with a huge smile. Kiba came running downstairs and down a hall. He returned with a vacuum, some 409, a bunch of rags, and a couple garbage bags.

"I'll be done in just a couple minutes and then we can do homework!" He called as he walked back into his bedroom. I giggled as I heard the door slam.

"God, thanks so much for coming over. We moved in July and he hasn't cleaned his room since, and he eats most of his meals up there." Tsume laughed and propped her head up with her elbows. "Can I tell you a secret?" She asked.

"S-sure." I replied.

"Do you know a girl named Tenten Nara?" I nodded slowly, unsure of what was coming. "Yeah, well my son dated her from seventh grade until the end of ninth grade. She and him had a horrible breakup and her whole family moved. Well, after a year of searching, I found the neighborhood they moved to, moved here so I could "better my veterinary career", b.s., by the way, and put Kiba into the same school that she goes to."

"Wh-why?" I asked, genuinely interested and sort of confused.

"Because I wanted to see what'd happen. I'm a big lover of drama, so I threw my own son into a dramatic situation. I can tell it'll be fun to watch, especially now that he's got a friend who's a girl. Are you dating him?"

"No," I replied, "we're not dating."

"'K, just checking," she said, "So basically, I want to see how it'll unfold. I never really liked Tenten, she was a huge biotch from the second I met her."

"Really?" I asked. "She dated my cousin for couple years. She seemed like such a nice girl— until they broke up. Sh-she wasn't so nice after that…" Tsume nodded and apologized for that.

"She's bad news, and I'm guessing everyone she's friends with are bad news too?" I nodded.

"Well, sorry sweetheart. My kid'll protect you, or I'll kill him myself." I weakly smiled.

"Kiba m-mentioned he has a s-sister?"

"Yeah, Hana. She's off at college, but she'll be back around ten, if you're still here."

"I probably won't be… we're just gonna do homework, or something." I looked at my backpack, sitting by itself on the floor next to the refrigerator.

"Cool."

"DONE!" Kiba screamed, coming downstairs with an empty bottle of 409, five completely full garbage bags, and the vacuum. There were marks on his shirt where it had been drenched with sweat. "I'm kinda a mess. Lemme change my shirt and make myself not smell bad."

"Pizza'll be here in twenty," Tsume said. Kiba offered a two-finger salute and I picked up my backpack, following Kiba upstairs.

His room looked much different than it had, even though I only had a ten second look at it before. The shade was up, and the window was open, letting in the warm, early September breeze, and lighting the room nicely. His bed had been made, the smell of old food was almost gone, the garbage had been removed, there was a pile of plates, cups, silverware, and bowls in the hallway, all the clothes had been picked up off the floor and either put into the laundry or away, and some cologne had been sprayed so thick on some parts of the carpet, the walls, and the furniture, I could see it. Kiba pulled a shirt from a dresser drawer and disappeared.

He came back a few minutes later in basketball shorts, a plain black t-shirt, and socks. He threw his backpack on the floor next to mine and sat down next to me.

"So," he said, "math packet or science project?"

"L-let's work on our science project first." He nodded and pulled out his textbook and a blue spiral notebook. We worked for a few minutes in silence, each of us stock-piling ideas we could use. Energy use wasn't, and still isn't, my favorite topic, but it's certainly one that's easy to discuss.

"Hey, can you grab your science book?" Kiba asked. "We need different sections in this chapter and it's kinda annoying to flip between them." I nodded and smiled.

"It's fine." I reached into my backpack and pulled out the book, knocking it over and letting a small Tupperware dish, tape on the lid to keep it from leaking, full of clear liquid tumble out onto the floor of Kiba's bedroom.

"What is that?" Kiba asked, pointing to the container of poison.

"N-nothing," I whispered, going into his bathroom and dumping it out in the sink, washing it out thoroughly. When I came back, Kiba presented the other two Tupperware containers to me. I felt my face turn redder than it had ever been and I snatched them up, washing them thoroughly out into the sink in the bathroom. When I got back from that, I sat down quietly on the floor of Kiba's bedroom.

"What were those containers full of? And don't say nothing: I promise, you can tell me anything." I stared down at my feet, picking off some of the nail polish. I didn't _want_ to say anything, but I knew I should. Sitting in front of me was a person who was willing to stand up to the meanest people in our entire school. Sitting in front of me was someone who was ready to listen to my problems and at least pretend to care. Sitting in front of me was the first true friend I'd had since grade 8, and I just couldn't speak. I couldn't voice how horrible it all was, I couldn't do a thing.

"It was just… _so_… _hard_…" I whispered finally. "I just wanted to… to be by myself. To make it all go away, to not have them hurt anyone else…" Kiba's eyes grew wide.

"Was that… _poison_?" He asked, unconsciously sliding towards me. I bowed my head, beginning to cry. Kiba's arms wrapped around me for the second time that day, the second time ever, and it was nothing like the first time. Before, it was a friendly, open hug, meant to embrace a person and make them happy. Now, his arms were wrapped tightly around me in a way that said "cry if you need to" and he wouldn't let me go. I wrapped my arms around him and cried.

"PIZZA'S HERE!" Tsume said after a good five minutes of sobbing Kiba's arms. I reluctantly let go of him and said,

"I-I'm gonna cl-clean myself up. Be down in a m-minute." Kiba nodded and wandered downstairs. I went into the bathroom and dried my eyes, wiping off all the makeup that had begun to run down my face. I went into my backpack, pulling out two small bottles. One, to get rid of puffy eyes after crying like I just had, and the other to get rid of the blood shot aspect of post-crying eyes.

Once done with that, I looked down, fixing my shirt a bit, and my bracelets. I pushed them back down my wrist so they covered the tiny patch of parallel lines carved into my wrist. I wanted to cry again, but forced myself not to, to go downstairs and eat pizza with Kiba and his mother.

I walked downstairs a couple minutes later and enjoyed pizza and breadsticks with Kiba and Tsume. I was so amazed at how nice they both were to me and how much I didn't want to ever leave.

Once pizza was done, Kiba and I went back upstairs and worked on the math packet for a while. I texted my dad and told him I was staying at Kiba's for dinner at around 5. He obviously didn't care either way.

For dinner, there was day-old Chinese and Kiba and his mother got into an actual fistfight over who got the last slice of pizza from earlier.

Tsume won.

Kiba and I ended up getting way more work done than we thought we would have on either of our projects, and, for the first time ever, when Kiba drove me home, I wasn't afraid or nervous or questioning whether or not I should wake up in the morning. I wasn't as scared of Sakura as I used to be. I had a friend, a true friend, who I could count on.

•_•_•_•_•_•_•_•

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